Google Penguin 4.0 is deployed in real time! What are the impacts? [Exclusive Guide]

if the last Google Penguin 4.0 update is overdue throughout the year 2016, it is now indeed deployed all over the world, and its effects will now be visible in real time! What are the impacts to be expected on the sites in the short and medium term?

reminder: Google Penguin, what is it?

for those who start in SEO and don’t yet know very well all updates of Google and their effects, know that Google Penguin is, with Google Panda , one of those who have historically the most affected negatively the SEO of websites. Launched for the first time in 2012, Google Penguin has radically changed the practices of netlinking seos.

Specifically, Google Penguin is an algorithmic filter that tackles the profiles of natural and/or over-optimized links . So, for example, a site that has many built-in dofollow links in sitewide in a sidebar to an external site with an anchor optimized as “agency SEO paris” will be likely to suffer the impacts of Google Penguin.

some examples of links targeted / penalized by Google Penguin:

multiple links dofollow with anchors optimized for a single page to the same site

links in signatures of forums with optimized anchors and dofollow

links dofollow with anchors optimized for books dedicated to SEO

…

Google Penguin 4.0 deployed in France and worldwide in real time: what are the impacts?

historically, the impact of Google Penguin, whether they were positive or negative, were recognized at fixed dates during the updates of the algorithm. From September 23, 2016, Penguin has been integrated into the heart of Google’s algorithm , which means that, just like Google Panda, all of the impacts will now be visible in time real .

more specifically, it will mean that:

SEOs will no longer have to wait for a specific update date to see the impacts of their strategy of netlinking , they will also suffer a loss of positions at any time if adverse actions are detected.

impacted by Google Penguin webmasters will be able to see the impacts of their actions of cleaning of backlinks in near real time (removal of links, changes of anchors, in nofollow dofollow, disavowal of links or areas,…).

, Google announced that Penguin 4.0 would be more accurate than before in its analyses . Thus, the impacts will be more targeted. It will be rare that an entire site sees all of my positions fall as was the case in the past. In contrast, Google Penguin will indeed affect pages on a case by case basis based on their profile of links .

Google Penguin, the complete history of updates:

Penguin 1.0: April 24, 2012

Penguin 1.1: May 22, 2012

Penguin 1.5: 5 October 2012

Penguin 2.0: May 23, 2013

2.1 Penguin: 4 October 2013

Penguin 3.0: 18 October 2014

Penguin 4.0 : 23 September 2016

Google Penguin 4.0 in a nutshell :

Penguin 4.0 has been deployed in France and around the world September 23, 2016

Google Penguin 4.0 is now integrated into the heart of Google’s algorithm with positive effects as negative now visible in time real

Penguin 4.0 will take a few weeks a be fully deployed throughout the world

there is more official announcements from Google regarding this update because of the way in time real

SEOs will now be able to see the impacts of their actions of cleaning of profile links and those of their netlinking actions in near real time

the impacts of Penguin will be more recognized across the site overall, but page-by-page

Penguin 4.0 is just one of more than 200 criteria that allow Google to determine whether a site should be ranked or not